Zaxcom DCiRX

One slightly new wrinkle with the new Zaxcom system is the ability to sync both my TRXLA2.5 transmitter and the DCiRX via timecode directly in those units.

I've always had a tentacle sync on all of my cameras when I'm rolling, but now I can ALSO sync those two things (transmitter/receiver) independently.

Now, when the transmission is working well, no dropouts, etc. it has't really mattered. I'm already pulling audio direct into camera. But the ability to have the "backup" track recorded in both transmitter and receiver and synced up via timecode is kind of amazing.

I know some people have been on this workflow for years now, but it's new to me. It's already got me wishing I had the ability to send commands via Zaxnet and sync all of those things wirelessly, but maybe that's the next step down the line.

I had to pickup a new sync cable for the Tentacle to the LA2 transmitter though. Should be here tomorrow. I already had one that works with the DCiRX.

Further reporting to come...
 
I ran a quick walk and talk test a couple days ago just to see how everything might sync up.


I was recording into the DCiRX's micro SD a mix of the on-camera shotgun (Sennheiser MKH8060 with a dead cat), and the TRXLA2.5 with a Deity W.Lav Pro with a Bubblebee fur lav cover. You can assign things how you want, but in this case I had the 4 channels assigned as follows:

Channels 1 and 2 - Auto Mix of the Shotgun and Transmitter
Channel 3 - Transmitter
Channel 4 - Shotgun

The camera was the Alexa Mini and it was receiving 2 channels of the Auto Mix from the DCiRX. And the transmitter was recording the Lav to its internal micro SD card. Took them all into post and did a little switching just to see how things would go.

There were some dropouts that started occurring as I got pretty small in the frame. I'm not sure exactly how many feet that would have been, roughly a half a block or further when the first ones started.

Both the transmitter and the DCiRX were just on whips. Transmitter was on my belt, in the small of my back, so there were definitely times where I was in-between it and the receiver. Overall the range seems fine for my normal usage. And I'm sure you could get better range depending on a bunch of circumstances and how you set things up.

The Auto Mix on the DCiRX seemed to do a pretty good job of minimizing the shotgun in a windy situation and prioritizing the transmitter/lav combo. Just enough ambient brought in from the MKH8060, IMO.

Having the on-board recording on the Transmitter made for a pretty great option in post. As soon as dropouts started I could switch over and everything was right there.

Again, this type of workflow has been going on for years and years now for full-time sound recordists, but it's new to me and I'm pretty excited about it.
 
Here's an interesting side effect of being on the "bleeding edge" of tech with the DCiRX. I say "bleeding edge" because I was actually advised by the guys over at Gotham Sound when I bought it that there may be quite a few firmware updates rolling out in the first few weeks, which I mentioned I was fine with.

When I was doing my testing with the DCiRX, Alexa Mini, and TRXLA2.5 transmitter recently I noticed that the timecode metadata from the DCiRX kept reading at 23.98 in Resolve, even though I had checked and double-checked that they were 24 in the DCiRX.

Lo and behold, I see a recent update from Zaxcom just the other day:

"1.53-v076 June 13
Fixed swapped left/right headphone outputs
Fixed WAV timecode frame rate metadata to match the receiver frame rate setting"

Looks like I wasn't going crazy after all!
 
Timecode fix: That must be a relief.

Range: Overall, that seems pretty decent.

Cool that the DCiRX and TX are working for you. Thanks for sharing your experiences...
 
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